Traditional approaches to evangelism are not working in Canada.

The most common approach assumes that Christians share the gospel with their unchurched friends. The problem with this approach is that it presupposes that those in the church actually have unchurched friends. Research by church growth consultant Thom Rainer finds it is difficult for Christians—especially church leaders—to intentionally foster relationships with people who aren’t already fellow believers.

It is now 12 years since 25 denominational leaders gathered to kick-start Church Planting Canada (CPC), a national, trans-denominational association. What was a premonition for CPC back then is reality today. Traditional churches are completely missing entire segments of society. Certain languages, cultures and people groups are not even on their radar screens.

Part of the problem is that many Christians are operating at full capacity. Murray Moerman, CPC coordinator, uses the metaphor of the dance card. At one time, a dance card was used by a woman to record with whom she would dance at each successive dance at a formal ball.

“People in churches today are relationally over-saturated. Their dance cards are often filled with the names of fellow believers. Once your dance card is full, there is no room for more,” he says.

To be sure, churches that continually keep their people busy with programs contribute to the problem. Yet, another part of the problem is the constantly changing nature of Canadian culture. The nation’s demographic is radically different today than 20 or 30 years ago. There are generational differences and new family dynamics; there is the urbanization of society and diverse cultural backgrounds; there are recent leaps in technology and dual-income realities. Canada is a different place.

“No one church can address every nuance of Canadian culture and no one church can fine-tune itself to meet every need,” says Moerman.

Reach new segments
Moerman is convinced that planting new disciple-making communities is the best way to reach new segments of society that traditional churches miss.

“Churches need to remember they are not immortal. They have a limited lifespan,” he says. “Every church needs to plant two churches in its lifetime.” He is convinced that every church must replace itself with one church (while it is still vital) and another one to further the Kingdom in order to claim a piece of the mosaic.

Moerman maintains that traditional churches must recognize there is little hope of influencing Canadian culture unless they are willing to harness this church planting strategy, even if that means taking a leap of faith. To this end, CPC set a goal of doubling the number of churches in Canada by 2015.

“This is a big, audacious goal that we want to saturate Canada with 10,000 new churches, but we believe that new disciple-making communities are the solution to Canada’s changing culture,” says George Werner, design team chair for the CPC’s biennial church planting conference, Mosaic 2005.

Mosaic 2005 aims to encourage individuals and churches to grab hold of the church planting vision. The name reflects both the city where it is being held and the times in which we live. “Toronto has recently been recognized as one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world and we are living in a time when diversity is everywhere,” says Werner.

As art, mosaics are comprised of small pieces of material patched together to form a new design.

“If Toronto was in the U.S., we would have called it ‘melting pot,’ but Canada is a mosaic,” says Werner of using the term to title the conference. Organizers want it to reflect the country’s ministry realities.

“The means in which the church must minister are diverse—diverse leaders, diverse styles and diverse strategies,” Werner says. “Equally, the needs of Canadian culture are diverse.”

Contemporary examples
With this diversity in mind, several contemporary disciple-making communities will lend their expertise during Mosaic 2005.

Joyce Heron of Jacob’s Well in Vancouver has given her life to addressing the needs of the impoverished and disenfranchised. She believes the traditional church has been slow to respond to poverty-related issues.

Jacob’s Well lives the gospel on the streets of East Vancouver, operating out of a newly renovated store-front and reaching out to those who are often overlooked. Although some churches shun this type of outreach as “the social gospel,” it is churches that embrace this type of ministry who will succeed in impacting their communities, says Werner.

“This is an important example of a disciple-making community that is reaching out to a particular part of the mosaic. It’s less about imposing a one-size-fits all model and more about finding what works for you amidst all the diversity.”

Ray Aldred, a First Nation Cree, also knows a lot about diversity. He was born in northern Alberta and understands the frustrations of being a marginalized person. He works for My People International, a ministry that seeks to share the gospel in a holistic way with marginalized people groups such as Native North Americans.

Aldred believes we must learn to reach people through our vulnerabilities—our weaknesses and not our strengths. “The gospel must be communicated in the heart language of the people,” he says.

That type of thinking holds true to global evangelism as well, he says.

“In weakness, sharing is most genuine, but we are tempted in the West to share out of a position of power, thinking we have everything here in North America, and they over there have nothing. In sharing from a position of power, it does not open us up for true sharing of hearts because we build walls around our hearts and don’t really share our whole being.”

Shift of focus
Aldred says church “insiders” need to focus not only what they can give to those outside the church, but also what they can receive in return.

“Many times we can find ourselves thinking of people outside the church as having nothing to offer us,” he says. “Of course, Scripture makes it clear that everyone is made in God’s image and has good things to bring and if they were to be in relationship with us, we would be enriched by them and they would be enriched by us.”

Although he is not a Canadian, Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic church in Los Angeles, would readily agree with the convictions of both Aldred and Heron. His church is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational place that envisions the church as a living organism.

In his award-winning book Unstoppable Force, McManus writes, “The purpose of the church cannot be to survive or even to thrive, but to serve, and the serving we are called to requires direct contact.” In other words, we can’t sit back and wait, we have to move out and get involved—and we may have to get our hands dirty.

In the past, the church has circled the wagons to protect the political interests of insiders and neglected its purpose of providing hope to the outsiders. McManus believes the future hope for churches lies with its ability to provide community with cause and meaning with healing.

He writes, “Having one without the other leaves us fragmented. We must transform the fragments into a mosaic.”

Church Planting Canada’s Mosaic 2005 conference takes place November 16-18 in Toronto, featuring seminars with Heron, Aldred and McManus (among others). It will also include field trips into the downtown core of Toronto. Visit www.thecongress.ca for further information.